Mass Effect: What Should've Happened
by BoredZero
Summary: This is where humanity should have been. Instead of being a semi-intelligent race bowing to the status quo after Shanxi and Relay 314, they should've been kicking ass and exploring the stars. If you thought that humanity started off weak and was being monumentally stupid throughout the series, this might be for you. One Shot. The following story is rated T for profanity.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect, Star Trek, Star Wars, Halo, or any other show I may have used material from. This is a not-for-profit fanfiction, and has been written purely for shits and giggles. Or to get a muse out of my head. Whichever.**

Before you read any further, let me emphasize the fact that I do in fact, love the game. Or, if you don't want to read the rant, skip ahead.

However...the following story is what I think should have happened. Because there were always twos thing that always irked me about the game - and that was why the hell WAS HUMANITY SO STUPID!?

The discovery of eezo and the mass effect was great for space exploration. But for weaponry? Maybe in some aspects, but not all. Which bumbling idiot decided that making a rifle with so many computerized and moving parts was a good idea? And more to the point, which idiot completely forgot about the one reason why bullets come with hollow points and are made from lead?

Bullets as they are in the Mass Effect realm are utterly and totally useless, and not at all suited for warfare. Why? Because for the most part, most of them fire rounds the size of small paint chips or grains of sand shaved off from a block of metal. Ignoring the material part, let's just think on the size of the round.

A smaller round means less mass. Less mass, less energy needed to propel it at a set speed and also allows it to be accelerated easier. Therefore, if you were talking purely a numbers game of kinetic energy, then yes, I suppose a tiny round accelerated to at least 1% speed of light might hit harder than weapons nowadays.

HOWEVER, because they are so small, even if they were designed to mushroom on contact (which frankly, I don't see what good that would do since they're so damn small), because of their velocity they would simply blast right through and make a hole instead of entering their target and staying there. And even if it did, at best, it would simply be a very minor inconvenience given its size. Granted, if you can hit something vital with it, it doesn't matter.

But if you're trying to hit a moving target while moving and under fire, good luck. And given that hard suits are (according to the Mass Effect codex) use ceramic plating for protection in addition to kinetic barriers, I fail to see why anyone would use a mass accelerator weapon in lieu of a good old fashioned gunpowder propelled bullet if they do essentially the same thing - punch through armor and do as much damage as possible to other person. It basically comes down to a choice of dropping a person with one shot, or dropping a person with a few shots.

Besides, a gunnery chief being proud of a gun that has the output of 38 kilotons every three seconds in the year 2185? We had weapons that could dwarf 38 kilotons in the 20th century! Why the hell did the amount of destructive power humanity could put out take a step _back_?

**The second thing is...**what happened to all that sci-fi that was in humanity's history? Did we suddenly forget shows like the Stargate series, the Star Trek series, the Star Wars series, Doctor Who, Farscape and Firefly?

Thus, I present to you the following one shot. This is where I believe humanity should have been.

If you've read the rant, I thank you for taking your time to read it.

* * *

Never let it be said that humanity did not know what the hell it was talking about when it came to warfare.

In the year 2184, humanity made a somewhat startling discovery on Mars – an ancient repository of information from an advanced race they later discovered to be called the Protheans, and a seemingly naturally occuring mineral scientists called Element Zero.

This mineral had the ability to increase or decrease the mass of any object depending on the electrical current that was channeled through it.

This discovery was hailed as the most important in humanity's history, and they were quick to capitalize on it.

It immediately saw use in advancing their space technology, jumping them ahead at least two hundred years. In the matter of warfare however, that's when humanity shined.

At first, someone suggested using eezo to create a more modern weapon by increasing the amount of kinetic energy any given round can deliver by allowing it to travel at much higher velocities.

Unfortunately, attempts to simply make existing rounds fly at faster speeds was unsuccessful, resulting in many overheating issues, some of which actually caused the ammunition in the magazine to explode or causing the weapon to become too hot to hold.

So someone else suggested the idea of dialing down the projectile size. This gave birth to the idea of building a "smart" weapon, one that would be able to do everything a regular gun couldn't. It'd be accurate as hell thanks to an onboard computer that would automatically calculate windage and distance, then automatically propel the round at the necessary velocity in order for the round to make an impact.

However, when the test weapon codenamed the Avenger assault rifle rolled out, soldiers were absolutely revolted at being forced to use such a weapon. Only the novices liked its ammunition capacity.

The weapon however, was an absolute failure. Who the hell gave a damn if the round was traveling at ridiculously high speeds, the soldiers complained. Which monumental moron decided this was a good idea?

In testing, it was found that while the muzzle velocity was absolutely brilliant, but the small size of the projectile and the difficulty in transferring all that kinetic energy from the tiny round into the target meant that all that energy was wasted. Either the round over penetrated and went right through, leaving a clean hole, or didn't hit with enough force to be lethal at all.

Eventually, the descendant of the famous weapon designer, Kalashnikov, designed a new assault rifle named the XAKM-47. It was a simple weapon in that the velocity settings were kept in proportion to their older counterparts, and fired 7.62mm cartridge-less rounds. They were essentially, bullets that were fired out of the gun via a combination of magnetic accelerator and a mass effect generator.

However, Kalashnikov was not satisfied with this weapon – and fellow weapon makers agreed. In order to permit the round to be fired via magnetic accelerator, the need for an additional moving part would be needed, or they would have to use metals generally used for discount rounds, such as steel. Lead, since it was heavy and relatively soft in comparison to other metals, had a kinetic energy transfer weight only second to depleted uranium in the ballistic world.

So, Kalashikov then formed the Hahne-Kedar weapons company, where they developed the final version of the AKM-47.

Sometimes, the old ways are best.

The barrel was built stronger to withstand the increased velocity, and a mass effect generator was added to increase the weapon's velocity. It still used traditional lead bullets with new propellant that carried its own oxidizers so that the weapon could be used in space.

In short, it was an AK-47 with a sturdier barrel and a faster muzzle velocity. However, testing later revealed that this arrangement didn't work very well either since repeated firing would still cause a buildup of heat.

This was offset by the addition of a heat sink. Once this was added, the rifle outperformed its older predecessors by far. The AKM-47 was hailed as the true next generation of the Autovat Kalashnikov rifle – a rifle that was still in use to this day, as was Browning's old creations, the Hi-Power and the 1911.

Ship weapons were designed in a similar way for the dreadnought class ships. The main gun design on these ships were borrowed from a 21st century concept from a videogame known as Halo, where humanity in the 25th and 26th century, developed massive mass accelerator cannons or MACs that fired massive shells at high velocity. It generated a lot of heat and the manufacture of such projectiles was enormously expensive, but their destructive potential was absolutely clear.

Later, the Charon Relay would be discovered, and humanity would begin its foray onto the galactic stage, with its new ships and weapons in tow. Instead of relying purely on element zero, humanity took the path it had dreamt up earlier in the 20th century. The possibility that humanity was not alone in space was all the more real with the discovery of the Protheans and the mass relays, and it was not something humanity was foreign to. In fact, one might even claim that humanity's imagination in the past was simply in preparation for this very discovery.

Energy weapons, shields, metallurgy, ballistics, warfare, medical technology...these were only a few of the things humanity had advanced in.

Then, 2157 rolled around. Humanity had been reactivating mass relays, curious as to where they led to. Although they did not need to use the mass relays having discovered their own method of FTL, it was still years away from being viable for intergalactic travel. Using the relays simply allowed them to cover more ground.

It was then when humanity first met life out in space.

Many academics to this day refuse to call turians intelligent life due to their first contact actions of shoot first, ask later.

The Turian fleet outnumbered the human expedition three to one, but to the humans, their ships looked like little pussy bitches.

Onboard the battleship UNSC Defiant, Rear Admiral Gibbs lit up his cigar as he sat down in the captain's chair.

"Smooth sailing so far, it seems." His XO, Captain Lee commented, sitting in the chair next to his.

"Maybe. Keep the CAP out there and order yellow alert. Something feels off." He growled.

"Another gut feeling, sir?" Lee asked. The Admiral simply grunted in reply, eyes glued to the main window. It doubled as a screen.

"Sir, I'm picking up inbound relay activity. No IFF beacons detected."

"It's a good thing we're at yellow, then." Gibbs muttered.

"I'm picking up roughly thirty ships or so. They don't appear to be human."

"Open hailing-"

"They're firing!"

"Open them anyway! Raise the shields! Red alert! Do not fire until I give the order! And get the MAC cannons ready!" Gibbs snapped.

"Aye, aye, sir!" Lee acknowledged, issuing orders as he went around the bridge.

"Attention unidentified ships, cease firing or we will return fire!" Gibbs shouted.

"No response, sir."

"How are the shields holding?"

"Very well. It doesn't seem like their weapons are very effective."

"Good." Gibbs muttered. "Unidentified vessels, this is your last warning."

"They're not stopping Admiral."

"All batteries, open fire!" He ordered, throwing a hand towards the front.

The battleship, two cruisers and four frigates opened fire with their Mini-MAC and MAC cannons. Firing a magnetic shell weighing in at 225 kilograms at 1% of the speed of light (roughly three million meters per second), it had an impact force of over two gigatons.

The Mini-macs fired smaller, 100 kilogram projectiles with the same muzzle velocity. While it took some time for the guns to cool, the amount of energy behind them was more than enough to devastate almost anything. One thing was certain – the Turian ships might have looked formidable, but against the human fleet, their weapons were absolutely useless. They didn't even penetrate their shields, which were all capable of withstanding at least one shot from a capital ship class MAC cannon.

Gibbs couldn't help but feel bad for the Turians. So did his bridge crew apparently, because they were all looking at him with varying expressions, ranging from humor to disappointment.

"What!? It's not _my_ fault they were so goddamn weak!" He snapped.

"Aye, sir." Lee commented, barely hiding his laughter.

"Sir, we just received a message from the remaining ships. They wish to surrender."

"Good. Tell them to prepare for boarding. And they better have a DAMNED good reason for firing on us without so much as a goddamn greeting." Gibbs snapped.

What followed after the incident, henceforth known as Relay 314, was nothing short of a one sided battle.

The Turians, in their infinite wisdom, decided that the relay incident was all the proof they needed to keep humans out of the galactic stage, claiming that they were absolutely barbaric.

The human ambassador politely pointed out (read: Called the Turians on their bullshit in front of the entire Council) that it was the Turians that opened fire first without provocation or warning, and that the human fleet requested twice that they stop firing before they were fired upon.

Thus sparked the First Contact War (Read: Massacre). The Turians, in their infinite wisdom, decided to attack the human colony of Shanxi. Although they were able to take the skies only through sheer numbers, their ground efforts however, were another story.

Because their weapons were, as far as any UNSC trooper could tell, were similar to humanity's first attempt at creating a small arms weapon using the mass effect.

In short, the Turians once again had their asses kicked. Their only saving grace was the fact that their ammunition supply could stretch a lot longer than those of the UNSC's weapons.

That lasted all the way up until the Marines started using their own weapons against them, scavenged from the dead.

The Turians had gotten so desperate, they had to drop an entire building on one trooper just to kill them.

And despite the shortage of food and water, the people of Shanxi persevered, many of them volunteering themselves to aid the UNSC defenders.

By the time the Council had stepped in to control the Turians, they had already lost a large number of troops to the planet of Shanxi.

General Williams was among the casualties of Shanxi, sacrificing himself and a UNSC base to buy his troops time. The moment he saw them enter the control room, he grinned a bloodthirsty grin, a Colt 1911 in one hand and a deadman's switch in the other.

When they finally pried the weapon from his dying hand, he got in one last word before he blew them all to hell.

It sent a message out throughout the galaxy. Do not fuck with the humans.


End file.
